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My brothers annoyed the hell out of me.
Cosette texted me back.
When I’d messaged her last night, I hadn’t expected to hear back. Max and Micah would shit themselves if they found out I was planning to meet up with Cosette—especially after what Dad said—but Cosette was my friend, and I needed some girl time. Desperately. And if she was texting me back, something was up.
I had to ditch my brothers. As soon as we got to the mall, I headed to the one place that was guaranteed brother repellant. Victoria’s Secret.
Micah’s nose scrunched at scent of all the perfumes as soon as I stopped in front of the store. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, Meredith. No. Just no.”
I gave them my most innocent grin. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t need any of that—” Max waved his hand at one of the displays. “Stuff. In there.” He grabbed my arm, trying to drag me away.
I jerked free. “It’s just Victoria’s Secret. It’s underwear. And Donovan is coming back soon, so I thought I’d get something a little—”
“Stop.” Max covered his ears. “That’s disgusting.”
I raised my eyebrows. “My sex life is disgusting?” They didn’t have to know that I wasn’t actually having sex yet. I almost felt bad about the twinge of glee I got from the horror on Micah’s face. Almost being the operative word.
Micah shoved Max. “Make her stop.”
“I’m going in,” I said. “Why don’t you guys grab some food, and I’ll be down to the food court in a bit? Just text me if you want to know where I am.” The two of them stared at each other before coming to an unspoken agreement.
“Share your location with me, and you’ve got a deal,” Max said.
“No problem.” I whipped out my phone, turned on location sharing with Max, and smiled. “All good here? Can I shop now?”
“Feel free,” Max said. They both scampered away, nearly tripping over their own feet.
Seriously? The idea of me buying underwear had them running? Maturity at its finest.
I moved to the back of the store, pulling out my phone to text Cosette. Got rid of my brothers. So glad you could make it! Although I’m shocked. I haven’t heard from you in weeks.
Your timing was perfect. I’m ten out. Meet me in the Dave & Busters?
No good. My brothers might go there. I pretended to look at some bras while I watched the little animated dots.
My cousin runs a jewelry and mystic shop on the fourth floor. Reeks of nag champa. You can’t miss it. We’ll figure out where to go from there.
Heading there now.
Good. We need to talk.
That sounded a little ominous.
Patience was never my thing. I started typing back as I walked through the mall, head down, as I wondered what she needed to talk about. I’d planned to stay out of the fey stuff, but if Cosette was in trouble, then I had to do something.
>
I was about to hit send when someone bumped me. I would’ve thought it was an accident, but the girl’s hand was out. She’d purposefully stopped me?
She was about my age, blonde, average height and whatnot. I would’ve breezed past her with an “excuse me,” but the look on her face stopped me. Her mouth opened so far that her chewed-up, slimy piece of gum dropped to the floor with a wet plop.
“It’s you.”
Oh shit. This was so not good. Being on the news—twice—wasn’t good for my anonymity. Not at all. This girl was going to get me caught. If this mall trip turned into a thing, my brothers were going to kick my ass, and Dad had barely let me out of the house in the first place.
Damn it. Maybe my mother was right. I should’ve gone blonde again. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
